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In memory of William Bensinger and John R. Porter who are buried here. They joined the famous Andrews Raid to wreck the Confederate supply lines. The Raiders captured a locomotive, “The General,” at Big Shanty, Georgia on April 12, 1862. Private Porter missed the great locomotive chase which followed. Pvt. Bensinger was aboard when “The General” ran out of fuel and was captured. Both men received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
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Colonel William Crawford, a lifelong friend of George Washington, was born in Virginia in 1722. He was married twice, first to Ann Stewart and later to Hannah Vance. In 1755, he served with Colonel Edward Braddock in the French and Indian war. In 1767, he moved to “Stewart’s Crossing,” Pennsylvania, near the Youghiogheny River. During the Revolutionary War he raised a company of men, commanded the 5th and 7th Regiments, fought in battles in Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton, and built forts along the western frontier. In 1782, he led the Sandusky Campaign into the Ohio country and was subsequently captured by Delaware Indians after the battle of “Battle Island.” On June 11, 1782, he was tortured and killed near the Tymochtee Creek near this marker. A monument dedicated to his memory is located about a quarter mile north of here. Counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania are named for Colonel Crawford.
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This ornate Victorian/Italianate house was constructed in 1871 as the home of Henry Bishop Perkins, Sr., a civic, business, and political leader of the Western Reserve. During the 19th and early 20th century political figures such as U.S. Grant, James A. Garfield, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley were visitors to this house.
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After Gen. William Hull’s surrender at Detroit early in the War of 1812, most of the Michigan Territory came under British and Indian control. To prevent a possible invasion of Ohio, Gen. William Henry Harrison, commander of the Northwestern Army, called up the Kentucky and Ohio militia. Rather than moving troops and supplies across the Black Swamp, he chose to use the Auglaize and St. Marys rivers. In November 1812 Harrison ordered Lt. Col. Robert Pogue of the Kentucky Mounted Militia to construct a supply depot at this site, previously an Ottawa village. Pogue, a veteran of the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, named the post Fort Amanda after his 12-year-old daughter, Hannah Amanda. (continued on other side)
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Medal of Honor winner, who is buried here. He joined the famous Andrews Raiders to wreck Confederate supply lines. The raiders captured a locomotive, “The General,” at Big Shanty, Georgia, on April 12, 1862. Brown served as the engineer and was captured after the “General” ran out of fuel. He escaped on October 16 and made his way back to Union lines after enduring great hardships.
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The Smith Tannery is the oldest original structure remaining in Greenfield. Built in 1821 by Revolutionary War veteran William Smith and his son Samuel, the tannery became a noted station on the fabled “Underground Railroad.” The structure, which also served as the family residence, was the birthplace of Dr. Samuel M. Smith, Surgeon General of Ohio during the Civil War, and Dr. William R. Smith, who personally notified Abraham Lincoln of his nomination to the presidency in 1864. The Smiths were active members of the Abolition Society of Paint Valley, which was established in 1833 in Greenfield and reorganized in 1836 as the Greenfield Anti-Slavery Society. In 1844, the Society assisted the efforts of Frederick Douglass, one of the nation’s leading abolitionists. The Society provided an important junction on the Underground Railroad, assisting many fugitive slaves to gain freedom, including, it is said, Eliza Jane Harris of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame. The Smith Tannery was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
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Opened on May 1, 1885, this is the third Fayette County Court House building. Ohio artist Archibald Willard, who is best known for the patriotic painting, “The Spirit of ’76,” was commissioned by the firm Cooks Brothers to do painting and fresco work for the interior walls of the courthouse. Willard did not sign his work and the artist’s identity remained a mystery for nearly 75 years until confirmation was made in August 1956. The artist’s name was cleverly disguised in the delivery address of the letter in “The Spirit of the U.S. Mail” mural. The other primary murals, “Spirit of Electricity” and “Spirit of the Telegraph,” adorn the third floor corridor.
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The stone masons brought from England by Bishop Chase to construct early buildings at Kenyon College settled in this area. In the 1850’s with the help of Episcopal Bishop Gregory T. Bedell, they and other families in the community built “Quarry Chapel” on land given by John Bateman. William Fish, owner of a nearby quarry, donated the sandstone. The church stood unused and deteriorating since 1937. Restoration began in 1972.